A Deadly Prototype
by CadeXHybrid
Summary: Cole MacGrath doesn't always involve himself in police work, but when he does, a psychopathic terrorist is loose on the streets of Empire City, mowing down the city's law enforcement with bizarre powers. After deciding to confront this mysterious foe head-on, Cole realizes this little skirmish may turn into a full-blown battle for Empire City.
1. More Maniacs

**Chapter 1: More Maniacs**

"Cole!" Chief Kennedy yelled through Cole's communicator. "Come quick! This thing—it's a freak of nature!"

"I'm on my way!" Cole replied into his Bluetooth cellular device, furiously induction-grinding along a telephone line with his blue lightning flickering like never before. He checked the GPS application on his cellphone, which revealed a small map of Empire City's Neon District. According to the GPS, Cole was two blocks away from his final destination. He mumbled, "Crap…gotta speed up!"

Cole streamlined his posture, somewhat increasing his speed. Soon, rowdy noises of gunshots and screaming filled his ears, and the fierce battle in the streets finally came into view. The road and sidewalks were littered with empty shells, discarded rifles, and the bodies of deceased law enforcement. Part of the city's still-reforming police force was present, taking cover behind overturned automobiles while barking commands and emptying entire magazines at a lone individual standing in the center of the hectic scene; this person, wearing gray jeans, a black leather jacket, and a brown hoodie underneath, appeared to be taking a heavy amount of damage, but he barely flinched from the bullets piercing his body.

"Oh, great. More maniacs," Cole muttered, mentally noting this man's apparent superhuman resilience.

Perched on top of a traffic light, Cole watched with intrigued eyes as the mysterious, hooded man sprinted away from the shooting police officials, arriving on the sidewalk before choosing to deftly scale up the side of an adjacent building with incomparable speed. Shortly afterward, like a skilled acrobat, he kicked off of the building and dove back into the battle, aiming his elbow like a plummeting warhead toward a stationary police car flanked by at least a half dozen officers.

Seconds later, the entire police car was firmly dented into the ground from the force of the hooded man's elbow-strike. The surrounding law enforcement in the immediate area had been thoroughly knocked backward by the tremor created from the devastating ground attack. Those still able to stand began to open fire with pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles, forcing the destructive foe to sprint sideways to avoid the fast retaliation of bullets.

Cole watched as the brown-hooded man moved with unnatural speed. Taking note of his casual attire, Cole pondered out loud, "Doesn't look like any Conduit I've ever seen. Who _is_ this guy?"

Abruptly, the man changed his direction and went on the offensive toward the firing police officers. Before Cole could even blink, both of the man's arms underwent a twisted metamorphosis that resulted in them changing into two long, lethal, and earth-colored claws. With both claw-arms, he simultaneously impaled two shrieking police officers through their chests, painting the pavement with a vast amount of their blood.

"Whoa!" Cole gasped. _"What_ is this guy?"

The brown-hooded man's claws receded back into his body, once again displaying human arms. Then, in another sickening convulsion, the man's right arm turned into a giant, arm-length blade of sorts. The beast of a man quickly sprinted to the next panicking police officer while dodging incoming bullets; as soon as he got close enough, he swiped his inhuman arm-blade across the officer's midsection, leaving a deep incision that immediately grounded and immobilized said police officer.

Fed up with the senseless violence, Cole jumped down to the street from the traffic light and furiously growled, "I've had enough of this asshole."

Taking cover behind a nearby police car, Chief Kennedy called over to him, "Cole! Thank god you're here—this thing's already taken out an entire unit of officers! Please help us before we lose more!"

"On it," Cole briefly replied, walking past the police chief and headed straight for the murderous man, who mistakenly had his back turned.

Outstretching one arm, Cole blasted a bolt of lightning from his hand to the center of the mysterious man's back. Jolting forward, the man irritably turned around to face his attacker. Now that he was up close, Cole thought the man's attire made him look like some sort of grungy vagabond. His gray jeans and black shoes had numerous stains from the slain officers' wasted blood. Under his brown hood, the man's face twisted into something dark and wrathful as he glared daggers at Cole. He reshaped his arm-length blade back into a regular human arm, tightening his fists down by his sides.

Returning the fierce look, Cole stated forwardly, "It's over, freak."

"My thoughts, exactly."

A tremor moved beneath the pavement.

Cole's superhuman instincts kicked in. Diving into a lateral roll, the Prime Conduit managed to quickly, safely, and successfully avoid a bouquet of giant, earthen spires that erupted from the part of the ground that Cole previously stood on.

"What the hell?" Cole gasped, regaining his balance as he stared at the spires ranging from fifteen to twenty feet high. Then, in the blink of an eye, the spires receded back into the ground, evidently originating from the hooded man's mutated arm, which was firmly planted into a damaged part of the street. Cole decided now was the time to retaliate.

Throwing both hands out in front of him, Cole released a shockwave of energy that sent his hooded opponent flying backwards until he landed in the side of an abandoned sports utility vehicle. Cole charged forward and struck him while he was still dazed against the car, repeatedly punching the man in his abdomen with electrically sputtering fists. Finishing off his combo, Cole back-flipped away and tossed a blue shock grenade that attached itself to the man's chest, flashing brightly for a brief second before exploding.

Watching as the smoke and electrical disturbance cleared, Cole stood before the battered and heavily damaged man, who motionlessly lay face-down on the street. Brushing his hands together in a conclusive manner, Cole uttered, "Good riddance."

Just then, the man Cole presumed to be defeated painlessly peeled himself off of the pavement, popping a few bones back into place. Standing tall and ignoring his many visible wounds, he smiled darkly at Cole as he said, "I hear you're one of those Conduit things—the Prime Conduit, to be exact. Sorry, but not even you can take me down that easily."

Crouching down slightly, the wounded man appeared to enter a deep state of concentration for a short period of time, causing a foreboding sense of danger to creep up in Cole. As he did so, wormlike biomasses of the man's clearly inhuman flesh began to circulate outside of his arms and torso, deeply unsettling Cole to the core. Releasing whatever built up power he had, the man knelt down and stretched out both of his arms on either side before distributing a terrifying web of black tendrils from his back that discharged to nearly every square inch of the Neon District's street-turned-battleground.

Acting on his visceral instinct, Cole dodged a single black tendril that shot in his direction. The other tendrils managed to grab onto the many things lying on the street, mainly the dead bodies of fallen police officers. These horrible tendrils pulled the bloody corpses in and merged them with the maniac's body in what can only be described as a type of sickening bionic consumption.

He casually stood back up again after the tendrils retracted back into his body. Speaking of his body, it seemed to be completely healed over from Cole's previous assault, thanks to the consumption of the police officers' corpses. Cole scowled at the walking freak-show, suddenly feeling that it had just now become his sworn duty to bring this psychopathic killer to his end. Cole analyzed, "I don't know who or what the hell you are, but I'm bringing you down. And if you think you can come into _my_ city and kill innocent people like the monster you are, then you're in for one hell of a surprise."

"Big words, Electric Man," the man taunted.

A curious thought suddenly emerged into Cole's head. With a look of realization, Cole stated, "Wait…I know who you are, now. You're the beast Kessler warned me about!"

Smugly, the man finally revealed himself, "Beast? I guess you could insert that moniker under my résumé. Actually, I used to be known as Alex Mercer. Used to be. And you must be the infamous Cole MacGrath."

* * *

**-X-**

_Yep, it's another Deathmatch! This time, we've got the hero-version of Cole MacGrath from the Infamous series versus his archenemy in the gaming world—Alex Mercer from Prototype!_

_Usually, when I do Deathmatches, I have two stories go out at the same time, one for each respective franchise. Unfortunately, this week, I only have Cole MacGrath's first side of the battle updated. Next week, I promise to at least have Alex Mercer's first side of the story updated, as well._

_Anyway, stay in touch for more of my weekly updates of stories, Deathmatches, holiday themes, and more! Hybrid out!_


	2. Alive and Amplified

**Chapter 2: Alive and Amplified**

Before Cole could even attempt to wrap his mind around whatever Alex meant by "used to be," Mercer lunged at him, both hands brandished into the claws again. Utilizing his heightened reflexes, Cole expertly weaved between two claw swipes meant for either side of his neck, barely feeling the air rush past his head and shoulders.

Mercer launched a last resort attack, aiming to land a kick in Cole's abdomen. One step ahead of him, MacGrath caught Mercer's foot and proceeded to fling the hooded man across the street in one smooth, pivoting motion. Cole didn't waste any time in coming up with a follow-up attack; letting loose a volley of shock grenades in Alex's direction, the Electric Man shouted before each of them individually detonated, "Special delivery!"

To Cole's astonishment, Mercer had regained his footing with incomparable agility and leapt vertically to avoid the numerous imminent explosions. Changing his biomass to the deadly arm-blade in midair, Mercer did a falling somersault as he zeroed in on Cole, ready to cut the Conduit directly down the middle.

Moving the hell out of the way was currently at the top of Cole's priority list; back-flipping like his life depended on it, Cole barely missed certain evisceration, or much worse…castration.

"Don't run, MacGrath!" a persistent Alex yelled.

"No one's running!" After a succinct landing, Cole unleashed two Megawatt Hammers from his right hand, hoping to slow down the approaching homicidal maniac.

Whatever Cole was planning had clearly failed. Alex switched powers on the fly, opting to restructure his left arm into a bulky, black shield made of his own biomass. Still charging towards Cole, Mercer used his shield to catch the incoming rocket-like Megawatt Hammers, allowing them both to explode without taking any damage to his body.

Caught off guard, Cole found himself on the receiving end of Mercer's shield, which had been used like a battering ram to completely knock the Conduit off of his feet. The blunt force was strong enough to send Cole flying down the vacant street. He tumbled painfully until halting on his back, doing nothing but staring at the clouded sky for a moment. However, not even a second later, Mercer suddenly appeared in his skyward view, rapidly descending with claws drawn. Rolling away, Cole successfully managed to avoid one of Mercer's clawed hands, but the second one snagged him through the ribs, pinning him to the street.

"Ah-ugh!" Cole screamed from the skewering pain in his chest. Drawing blood like mad, the prongs of Mercer's claw had barely missed his heart. Grasping Mercer's forearm, Cole began flexing every muscle in his upper body to extract the sharpened appendage from his ribcage.

Just as Mercer raised his other claw to deal a killing blow, Cole summoned the strength to launch both of his feet into Alex's midsection, simultaneously propelling his murderous opponent off of him and removing the claw from his chest. Standing up slowly, Cole held on to his leaking injury, commanding himself to ignore the pain as he searched for a nearby source of electricity. The good news was that the battlefield was a lively city, which had always worked to his advantage, but as usual, this could prove detrimental to innocent pedestrians who might wander too closely.

Immediately after spotting a section of traffic lights, Cole retreated towards one of them and proceeded to drain its electricity through his hands. As the blue current surged throughout his body, he felt the torn holes in his chest speedily close up, halting the outpour of blood.

Ready to get back to the action, Cole mentally declared that he needed to be more mindful of Mercer's freaky powers. Spinning around to face him, Cole shouted in determination, "All right, round two—oh, shit—!"

With no time to react, Cole received a galactic right hook to his mouth. Immediately after contact, MacGrath deduced that that was no ordinary punch, seeing as how he'd been sent flying halfway across the Neon district. Cole did notice within that short time window that both of Mercer's arms had changed to a grayish color. More noticeable was the size of Mercer's arms and fists; they were slightly augmented, looking as if he'd instantaneously packed on a great deal of muscle mass. This was, without a doubt, yet another uncanny power Cole had the unfortunate opportunity to discover firsthand.

Hurtling through the air, Cole's body was practically cannonballed straight to Archer Square—a section where the humongous statue of a man overlooked a star-shaped insignia on the ground. Bouncing off the roof of (and deeply denting) a stationary taxi cab, the Electric Man came to a tumbling halt on the hard pavement, landing roughly on his side. He drearily looked up to notice he was lying in the middle of the street, inches away from the short set of stairs that led to Archer Square's common area.

Cole already knew that this part of Empire City was far more populated than where he'd previously been battling. Nearby pedestrians, seemingly unaware of Mercer's threatening presence, stopped by to check on their fallen protector, muttering in bewilderment to one another.

Surprised he was still able to move after such a wallop, Cole lurched upward to a standing position. He did his best to warn the citizens, "No, you guys gotta go! All of you have to get as far away from here as—dammit…"

Up in the air, hurtling towards Cole in an arched trajectory, was a steady torrent of descending automobiles, each of them seconds away from crushing Cole or, more feasibly, an innocent bystander.

Among the rising screams of the citizens, Cole sharply commanded, "Get moving!"

They did as they were told, fleeing the scene like ants. One by one, Cole repeatedly used his Shockwave ability to ward off each of the incoming cars, all of which were presumably thrown by Mercer. After the last of thirteen cars were successfully reflected, an exhausted Cole kneeled on the street. In the distance, he could already spot his opponent sprinting toward him. Sighing, he mumbled irritably, "This guy doesn't take any breaks, does he…?"

Nonetheless, Cole took the opportunity to recharge from an adjacent phone booth, feeling a little more rejuvenated afterward. When Alex finally made his reentrance, brandishing no visible powers at the moment, he slowed to a casual walk, smirking at Cole before saying, "Unlike you, MacGrath, I'm not forced to constantly recharge my batteries. My powers are everlasting and far more intuitive than that."

Now, only ten feet separated the stationary combatants. Scowling, Cole retorted, "That's good to know, but I think you lack versatility. Yeah, you might have more offensive powers than me, but your quantity far outweighs your quality."

Scoffing, Alex replied, "If you're trying to tell me that your pitiful range of abilities outclass mine, then maybe I should take off the kid-gloves…"

Mercer went for the first attack again; crashing his knuckles together created a ground-quaking shockwave, most likely only meant to distract Cole. Leaping seven feet high, Mercer flipped and switched powers to something totally brand new to Cole; Alex's fists had gone darker and swelled to the size of boulders.

Using his new fists like a pair of certified wrecking balls, Alex hit the ground hard enough to fracture the surface. Luckily, Cole managed to avoid the airstrike by vaulting backwards, though not before tossing out a shock grenade.

Mercer spotted the incoming ball of electricity and attempted swatting it away, much to Cole's satisfaction. The grenade's electrons caused it to act like an adhesive, instantly sticking to Mercer's hammer-fist.

"What the—?!" Mercer exclaimed, fruitlessly trying to shake off the shock grenade.

Not a second later, an explosion left Codename Zeus sprawled out on the damaged pavement. Quick to fire upon the fallen foe, Cole began dishing out Megawatt Hammers at a wild rate, earning numerous electromagnetic explosions as he shrieked, "Have some more!"

Between explosions, Cole could make out what appeared to be Alex's entire body changing form. Ending his Megawatt Hammer assault, Cole stepped back to view what exactly had taken place; a newly revitalized Mercer now stood before Cole, decked out from head-to-toe in nigh impenetrable armor composed entirely of his own biomass. Various spikes adorned Mercer's new body, complete with pointy spires lining his forearms and legs in such a menacing array.

Wide-eyed, a perplexed Cole MacGrath could only say, "Okay…this is gettin' wild."

While maintaining his heavily armored form, Alex equipped his long blade on his right arm, charging full-speed at the Prime Conduit. Not liking the idea of being shredded to ribbons, Cole figured a counterattack would suffice.

Alex Mercer rushed Cole with a remarkably sluggish swipe of his blade; Cole cleared a vault over the Prototype's head, evading the blade attack and landing behind Mercer.

"Too slow!" Cole taunted, prepping his fist for a swift right hook. His fist crashed against the back of Alex's skull…and immediately began to throb in pain, posing as a sore reminder that Mercer's _entire body was armored._

With a low chuckle, Mercer simultaneously whirled around and made a horizontal slash with the intent to rip Cole in two; still too quick for the armored freak, Cole acrobatically bent backward, narrowly missing the blade as it passed right over his chest. Completing the evasive move with a backflip, Cole jogged backwards while repeatedly firing lightning bolts at Mercer's body.

Resorting back to taunting, Cole said, "Shame all your moves are short-range, Mercer! Can't get a break, can you?"

Continuously failing to earn a hit with his blade, the armored Mercer snapped back while getting shot by lightning bolts, "Yeah, keep talking, asshole!"

Channeling a high concentration of blue energy around his arms, Cole formed electromagnetic blades on each his hands, otherwise known as the Gigawatt Blades. Amplified from the physical surge of power, Cole yelled with a sly grin, "Who're you calling—?" Weaving around another one of Alex's slow blade-swipes, Cole countered with a lethal swing of both arms before finishing, "—asshole? Asshole!"

This attack was indisputably far more effective than his previous punch; the armored Alex Mercer had been sent flying backward as every bit of energy drained from Cole's body. Feeling his thirst for electricity arise, Cole turned around to reach the nearest phone booth. However, not even a moment later did his sixth sense advise that he duck down before being hit by a back-attack.

Something had attempted to hit him; turning around again, Cole spotted the powered down, no-longer-armored Alex Mercer currently swinging his mutated arm like a sharp whip in Cole's direction. Dodging it again, Cole noticed the end of Mercer's whip-like arm was actually a pair of sharp blades—

"Are you shitting me?" Cole suddenly shrieked in anger. "Another power? What, are you pulling them out of your ass, now?"

"Envy's a bad color on you, MacGrath," Alex mocked. Throwing out his whip-fist yet again, he yelled, "So how's this for long-range?"

Diving out of the way, Cole realized he couldn't just sit and wait for his power to recharge on its own accord, not with this maniac hacking wild at him. Vaulting back a good distance, Cole drained a small bit of electricity from the phone booth, diving away again when Mercer used his whip-fist to demolish the glass structure.

With the share of energy he took, Cole tossed out a Shock Grenade and released a complimentary Shockwave to give the explosive an extra boost in flying forward. Alex opted to completely avoid the grenade by vertically jumping at least fifty feet in the air; at the peak of his jump, he prepped another lash of his extendable arm, snapping it downward at Cole.

The Electric Man sidestepped the bladed end of Mercer's whip-fist, but he didn't count on the tendril-like arm to wrap around his ankle and yank him up into the air. Now at the same fifty-foot altitude as Mercer (and flipped upside-down), Cole began dodging for his life as Alex strove to rip him apart with his equipped claws.

Right before Mercer tried to slice him down the middle, Cole, in his upside-down position, interrupted by slamming his foot into the Prototype's chin. Spinning right-side-up, Cole went for a right jab as they both steadily fell, only to have it warded off completely. Going for another hit, Cole scored a gut-punch and quickly followed up with an electrical uppercut under the jaw.

Grunting, Mercer responded with a swipe from each of his claws. Cole matched both of his attacks by adeptly catching hold of Mercer's claws, holding him off for a fleeting moment until receiving a kick straight to the abdomen. The Prime Conduit didn't realize just how powerful Alex Mercer's kick was until he'd gone flying through the air and collided into the top of Archer Square's statue—specifically, the statue's torso. Wedged into the fractured crevices, Cole could only attempt to catch his breath as his eyes caught sight of Mercer gliding over to his position.

Holding out his hand for a last ditch attack, Cole yelled, "Back off, you sack of…!" To his deep disappointment, hardly a few blue sparks fell from his palm. "…oh, no."

Dislodging himself, Cole maneuvered around to the side of the statue, narrowly missing impalement from Mercer's three knife-like digits. Alex ripped his claws from the statue and used them to help monkey himself around the edifice in pursuit of Cole.

Cole, meanwhile, decided now was a good time to go for broke; leaping from his position on the statue, he grabbed Mercer by the collar of his black jacket and yanked him off the statue as well. MacGrath then proceeded to beat the living hell out of Codename Zeus, cracking his fists across Alex's face as they both plummeted toward the star-shaped insignia of Archer Square.

Just as he'd drawn blood, Cole suddenly had his next punch countered and bridged into a reversal. Now positioned above MacGrath, Mercer went on the offensive, slashing his claws once across Cole's chest. Grimacing from the deep gashes, Cole desperately delivered a right hook to Alex's cheekbone; seemingly unfazed, Alex switched out his claws for the blade and swiftly impaled Cole through the right side of his chest.

They both hit the ground like a raging comet. Suffice to say, the landing had been exponentially painful for only one of them.

"Aaah!" Cole bellowed, outwardly coughing up blood as a result of his punctured lung.

Mercer still had his blade buried in the Conduit's ribcage, practically spearing him into the ground. Cole used every ounce of his remarkably resilient strength to keep Mercer from ripping his chest in half, but his resolve was waning. In a way, Cole almost felt like Mercer was attempting to pull him from the inside out, but the Conduit's electromagnetic powers weren't allowing such a demise to happen.

Mercer must have picked up on this. He commented, "Even though I've got you dead to rights, you're still resisting being consumed. It's a good thing I found you now, 'cuz you definitely would've been a problem in the future."

Still trying to push the blade out, Cole labored to respond back, "Future? Let me guess…you're here to take over the world?"

Pressing his knee down on Cole's kidney to cause him more pain, Mercer chuckled and said, "Don't mistake me for a cliché. All I'm going to do is improve mankind. Upgrade it. Guys like you, who think it's actually worth protecting…need to go ahead and die off."

Still bleeding out, Cole was curious to ask, "So…you're not here to destroy Empire City?"

Fixing Cole with a confused look, Mercer repeated, "Destroy Empire City? I don't give a damn about this shit-hole. I'm only here for you."

Cole had delayed it long enough. A core of his power finally sparked back to life within him—all that he needed. Smirking through bloody teeth, he said, "So that means you're not 'The Beast.' Just another freak lookin' out for number one. Oh, and Mercer—there's still one more power I haven't shown _you…"_

Drawing in every trace of electricity in the immediate area, Cole summoned a brilliant column of lightning from the sky, directly striking the two of them for a split second. With a scream of agony, Alex was propelled twenty feet backward. Cole, however, enjoyed the sudden surge of power he'd inflicted upon himself. Slowly rising to his feet again, Cole felt more revitalized than he'd ever been. Behind his ripped and bloodied jacket, the gaping hole in his ribcage was already healing over.

"It took a while, but I've finally got all your moves figured out, Mercer," Cole proclaimed boldly. "And don't worry, I'm more than prepared for any more surprise powers."

"Famous last words," Alex retorted with a look of determination. "If you're finally ready to put up a fight, then let's end this."

"Took the words right outta my mouth."

At long last, the true battle commenced. Sparking with electricity, Cole charged at Alex, who currently mirrored his rushing tactic while equipping his muscle-mass body modification. Both their right fists crashed against each other, resulting in a destructive shockwave that opened a wide fault in the pavement. Mercer proceeded to parry a volley of rapid blows laced with lightning, dishing out a triad of punches and two more kicks shortly afterward.

Cole zigzagged between each attack and zapped Mercer's face, following up with a successful leg sweep. Grounded, Mercer was subject to indefinite electrocution as Cole unleashed an endless torrent of lightning from each of his hands. If Cole had his opponent figured out, then Mercer's next move would be…

With a roar, Mercer incased his entire body in rock-solid armor again, gaining some much needed leverage to stand up and retaliate. Still utilizing his increased muscle mass, the armored Prototype squatted down briefly, and to Cole's surprise, leaped skyward.

"This can't be good," Cole muttered, watching Alex plunge back down at a meteoric rate. Predicting this next offense would have a large area of effect, Cole hustled over to one of the four flagpoles, reaching the peak barely a second before Mercer hit the ground. Cole's premonition had come true, and then some; in addition to wrecking the middle of Archer Square's star insignia, Mercer had summoned a plethora of erupting ground spikes all around him.

Glad to be out of the spikes' reach, Cole taunted, "I'm guessing that one's more of a 'kill all the pretty flowers' move, ain't it?"

Finally powering down from his armored form again, Alex glared and jumped up to Cole's perched position. Just before Mercer hacked at him in midair with his blade, Cole unleashed a particularly punishing Shockwave that deflected his incoming enemy.

"Not done with you, yet," Cole mumbled, waiting for Mercer to fall to the ground again.

Leaping off the flagpole, the former bike messenger began charging up a great deal of electricity in his body for one of his personal-favorite moves, the Thunder Drop. With his hands and feet glowing blue, Cole struck the ground hard, creating an electrical dome of devastation that hit Mercer directly.

Cole's assault didn't end there; standing up straight and spotting Alex as he weakly attempted to stand, Cole began firing Megawatt Hammers, knocking Mercer down on his back once more. Dashing over, Cole swung his sparking foot into Mercer's face just as the hooded man peeked up, springing up dark colored blood on his shoe.

Grappling onto Mercer's arm, Cole utilized his superhuman strength to hurl the deadly Prototype towards a higher up rooftop deeper in the Neon District. Going on the move, Cole mounted the nearest telephone wire, surfing it in Mercer's direction and allowing his energy cores to fully replenish.

"I have to keep fighting…'til one of us drops," Cole vowed solemnly under his breath.

Suddenly, the cable on which he was surfing had been cut loose; from behind, Mercer had appeared out of nowhere, slicing the cable with his blade. As Cole entered a terrifying free-fall, Alex began gliding closer to MacGrath, prepping another blade attack.

Cole expertly countered and tossed Mercer into the side of a building in mid-fall, activating his Static Thrusters to carry him over to the entrapped foe. Once there, the Prime Conduit repeatedly drove his right fist against Mercer's skull, each hit administering a mini-electrocution.

Cole soon realized he stayed on the offensive a second too long. With a deep grunt, Mercer launched his foot into Cole's abdomen, sending his electrified opponent flying into the side of the opposite building at least four stories higher. Like a bat out of hell, Alex leapt forward and aerial dashed up to Cole's position, punching him once in the chest (with augmented muscle mass) before throwing him into the side of the building diagonal from theirs. Mercer immediately gave chase, dealing out more pain as he kicked Cole into yet another building—all while remaining in hot pursuit.

This time, Cole was vigilant, springing off the side of the building before Mercer arrived. However, before Cole actually did leap away, he made sure to leave a nice, ticking present stuck to the wall for Alex. As soon as his pursuer came to foolishly occupy the spot on the wall, Cole smirked and muttered, "Fry, you freak…"

The Shock Grenade's resulting explosion clearly came as a surprise to Alex Mercer; falling from the building's wall like a dead roach, Mercer hit the ground hard, now open to yet another volley of Megawatt Hammers. After receiving numerous potshots, Mercer was motionless for a fleeting moment.

Cole stood tall on the street, seemingly victorious over his fallen adversary. "Give it up, Mercer. This fight's already over and done with."

Standing weakly, Alex clutched his left arm in fatigue, hunched over as he said, "Heh. I'm glad you finally decided to put up a decent fight. You've pushed me to my limits, MacGrath, and for that reason alone, I have to make sure you die today."

Mercer switched to his Whipfist ability, using his extendable arm to snatch up a gawking female pedestrian and reel her in. Right before Cole's eyes, Alex aimed his fist and punctured a hole straight through the frightened, screaming woman's back to her gushing chest. Just as he'd broken her like a piece of paper, Alex literally began to consume the feeble woman's body, converting her biomass into his own in one unnatural convulsion.

"Much better." Visibly healed of his wounds, Alex stretched his neck readily before beckoning, "Your move."

Citizens had witnessed the entire ordeal, resulting in chaos on the streets. Cole, on the other hand, was finding it hard to control the internal chaos exploding within. Not even sure of what to make of this monster anymore, Cole could only utter, "You…bastard…"

_I have to kill him quickly,_ Cole thought, shifting into a battle-ready stance. _I can't afford to let him do that again. With all these people around…this'll never end at this rate!_

Cole resorted to spamming lightning bolts at Alex. All of them missed, thanks to Alex's inhuman speed. He zeroed in on Cole in half a second, grappling him around the neck and sprinting down the street. Neck held firmly in Mercer's suffocating grasp, Cole was forcefully dragged through a wide tunnel filled with abandoned, dilapidated automobiles. Against his will, his head slammed into six different vehicles as Mercer continued through the tunnel, hauling him over to the western edge of the Neon District.

To say the least, Cole's head was feeling hazy. Languidly looking up at where Alex was taking him, he mumbled, "What the…? Oh, you've gotta be joking…"

Mercer brought him all the way to Empire City's brink—right up to a wonderful view of the ocean. That was all the motivation Cole needed; there wasn't any conceivable way that he would allow one man to skip him across the ocean like some worthless stone.

"DIE!" Mercer bellowed, cranking back his arm for one vicious toss.

Without hesitation, Cole firmly enacted a difficult choice to escape a watery death. Knowing he was about to share the brunt of his next counterattack, Cole positioned his hand beneath Mercer's chin and unleashed one particularly devastating Megawatt Hammer.

The explosion was ravaging enough to knock back both combatants, neither of whom taking an unwanted swim. They both lie lifelessly on the street, at least ten meters spaced apart, thoroughly knocked unconscious.


	3. Till I Collapse

_This last chapter has less dialogue during the fight. And please, no scrolling down unless you want spoilers. _

**Chapter 3: Till I Collapse**

The nightmare wasn't over yet. Lying ten meters away, Alex Mercer was still alive and kicking after taking a Megawatt Hammer straight to the chin. Such endurance was to be expected from a walking Swiss Army Knife.

Struggling to get up to his hands and knees, Cole could still accept that his current state of affairs would be far worse if he'd allowed himself to be tossed into the ocean. Rejoicing this fact, Cole dragged himself up to a standing position, noticing Alex had also accomplished getting off the ground. Upon closer inspection, Cole deduced that his Megawatt Hammer had done more damage than he originally surmised; Alex's charred face was sluggishly healing over a missing chunk of his mandible.

Not taking his eyes off of Alex, Cole removed his sling-backpack and tattered courier jacket, tossing them both aside. Now down to his short-sleeve, black and yellow baseball tee, Cole shifted into a fighting stance, beyond ready to end this once and for all.

Alex had simply drawn his claws, letting them hang by his sides as he glared daggers at Cole from underneath his hood. Cole scowled right back at him.

The sun was just beginning to fall below the ocean's horizon, heralding dusk. Most of the citizens that occupied the area had long since fled, save a few daring individuals attempting to record the battle on their smart-phones.

It was finally time to put an end to this skirmish. One of them would emerge victorious in the next five minutes.

Both Prototype and Conduit surged forth, practically exploding from their previous stances. Cole remained on the defensive, narrowly ducking under a horizontal claw attack and then leaning diagonally to evade the second strike.

Alex pulled back slightly, twisting his entire body around to deliver a wild roundhouse kick. Cole defended against it with his forearm, following up with a left hook. Alex swatted away the incoming fist, forcing Cole to go for an uppercut, which was also blocked in the same manner.

Cole paused to block yet another roundhouse kick and then countered a quick leg-sweep. His leg passed right under Alex's evasively hopping form. Rising up again, Cole faced two claws surging straight for his torso, barely allotted the time to catch Alex's wrists before the claws reached him. Clutching both of Mercer's wrists, Cole head-butted his enemy before jumping up and crashing both feet into Alex's ribcage.

Cole's dropkick caused both of them to hit the ground at the same time; Cole tenaciously leapt back up on his feet, just in time to see Alex crouch down and plant both claws into the street. Cole hadn't forgotten what this gesture would lead to.

Feeling the tremor move below him, Cole rolled forward, dodging the large bouquet of spikes that erupted where he previously stood. Returning to close quarters combat, Cole charged in and swung his fist at Alex, who swayed his head leftward to dodge it. Immediately afterward, Alex grazed Cole's forearm, spritzing the street with crimson liquid.

Being on the westernmost edge of the city during sunset would've typically been a serene time for the citizens of Empire City, especially given the breathtaking view of the ocean. Now, however, the thirty or forty people still watching from a safe distance couldn't appear more troubled at seeing the spilled blood of their fabled hero.

Cole managed to thwart Alex's next attack, opting to punch the center of Mercer's palm to deflect his claw. Continuing his assault, the Electric Man laced his subsequent volley of jabs with electricity. It was then that Alex equipped his augmented Muscle Mass, using his beefed-up forearms as protection from Cole's barrage.

Cole's left fist was suddenly captured by Alex's oversized right hand; in an effort to avoid a sucker punch to the skull, the former bike courier caught his opponent's incoming left fist in his right hand. Hands and fists interlocked together, both combatants found their selves in a fierce standoff.

It gradually became clear to both of them that Mercer possessed the upper hand in strength; he broke Cole down and kneed him hard in the jaw. From the force of impact, Cole had unconsciously let go of Mercer's left fist, but his own fist firmly remained in the Prototype's grasp.

The next thing Cole knew, he was yanked off of the street and then lassoed right above Zeus' hooded head; acting on instinct, Cole summoned two Megawatt Hammers from his free hand. Both rocket-like energies surged straight for Alex's feet, creating two explosions that sent him tumbling backward. Having freed himself from Alex's grasp, Cole roughly fell back on the pavement, though seemingly unfazed by the fall. Hopping right back up to his feet, Cole screamed before unleashing a Shockwave in Alex's direction, "Eat this!"

To Cole's astonishment, Alex neglected to vacate the Shockwave's path. Instead, he chose to bury his massive arms elbow-deep into the pavement, anchoring himself down to receive the full force of Cole's Shockwave. Puzzled for a short moment, Cole pondered if this was some foolish strategy or simply evidence that Alex was beginning to run out of gas.

Cole's reverie ended as soon as Alex lifted up the nearest car with one hand, swinging it around in MacGrath's direction. Milliseconds before impact, Cole released another Shockwave, effectively repelling the car out of Mercer's grasp and crashing it into a series of traffic lights.

Just then, Alex had scooped up yet another stationary vehicle, this time raising it overhead in an attempt to slam it on Cole like a hammer over the nail. Ever quick to retaliate, the Prime Conduit wasted no time in zapping the vehicle until its mistreated gas tank resulted in a deadly explosion, littering the street with burning debris.

Noticing his opponent was effectively stunned from the blast, Cole ran up on Alex, leaping on his chest with one foot and then kicking off from his face with the other. Landing after a flawless backflip, Cole began shooting more Lightning Bolts, only to realize Alex was protecting himself with his newly equipped Shield.

Taking advantage of the situation as best he could, Cole tossed out three Shock Grenades, all of which stuck to Alex's protective shield._ There's got to be some kind of damage threshold for that thing, _Cole mentally gambled, knowing he'd just used every last ounce of his power for those grenades. While the ensuing explosions distracted Alex, Cole dashed over to a streetlight, rejuvenating his power cores instantly.

Bounding over MacGrath's head, Alex landed a few feet behind him, drawing his Blade and instantly inflicting a superficial gash across Cole back. Alex would have made a deeper cut had Cole not dove out of the way belatedly, saving himself from a greater amount of agony.

Whirling around, Cole ducked under another strike of the blade, countering with a swift kick to Alex's lower ribs. Having placed a little distance between them, Cole went back to shooting plethoric Megawatt Hammers, aspiring to test the integrity of Alex's imminently appearing Shield. Cole felt his energy reserves deplete rapidly with every blast, watching each collide and detonate against the biomass generated from Alex's left arm. Just as he was getting down to his remaining few power cores, Cole saw his hypothesis finally come into reality.

Mercer's Shield shattered under Cole's electric missile barrage; Zeus was blown away, knocked at least eight feet back.

MacGrath uttered, "Now's my chance…"

After momentarily juicing up from a telephone post, Cole raced over to Alex, who was still stumbling up to his feet. Lacing his hands and feet with sparking electricity, the Prime Conduit lit up the Prototype's head, chest, and abdomen with a flurry of lethal punches, punctuating the combo with a three-sixty kick to Alex's mouth. Having subdued his opponent, Cole utilized a small fraction of his energy cores to summon the Gigawatt Blades in both of his hands. Targeting Mercer's face with extreme prejudice, Cole chopped his high-voltage hands in an "X" pattern, dealing a hefty blow that sent Alex careening backward.

Alex immediately flipped back up to a standing position, giving Cole a look that could only precede the launch of an ultimate attack. Luckily, MacGrath was also on the verge of launching one of his own.

While Alex appeared to be going through bodily convulsions, possibly charging up another freak power, Cole called down another Lightning Storm, psychically guiding the brilliant, destructive column on a straight path for Alex Mercer.

Meanwhile, Alex finished charging and unleashed what could only be described as Armageddon from the palms of his hands. A devastating torrent of tendrils flowed from his palms, surging through the incoming Lightning Storm and heading straight for Cole MacGrath.

Ready to tear into Cole as if he were a piece of construction paper, the tendrils stopped mere inches short of piercing Cole's body. Beyond relieved, MacGrath deduced that his Lightning Storm won the race.

The force of Cole's Lightning Storm exceeded what it had previously done to Alex. Still controlling the column, Cole willed it to stop and pummel Alex into the ground, funneling the pillar's damage output into the defeated maniac's chest. After Cole emptied every last ounce of his power into the Lightning Storm, the column finally dissipated.

Dust from the disturbed pavement finally settled down, revealing the scene to every speechless spectator. Broken down from the Lightning Storm, Mercer motionlessly lay on his back, hardly even conscious. The front of Alex's chest was smoking and charred completely black, all the way through to his leather jacket, hoodie, and button-up shirt.

Limping over to Mercer, Cole stared at his fallen opponent. Alex still appeared to be clinging to his consciousness. A result of being twice skewered by Alex's claws and blade, the front and back of Cole's tee shirt displayed fatal-looking holes in the fabric. Wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, Cole started slowly, "You and I….We were given a choice when we discovered our powers. I used mine to help people, making sure the protection of this city is first priority."

"I've been the hero before, MacGrath." Alex stated before falling into a fit of coughs. He continued, "Humanity is moving in the wrong direction. It's _almost_ beyond saving…" Lifting his head slightly, Alex declared, "And don't think you've managed to kill me. I've come back from far worse."

"I don't doubt it. Just another thing we both have in common." Cole concluded that statement with one last Lightning Storm.

* * *

**-X-**

_Okay, before you start griping about the outcome, here are seven points worth noting:_

_Don't deny it. Alex Mercer has a pretty average weakness against electricity. Proven by his boss fight with Cross._

_Cole may need to recharge frequently, but as long as electricity is in good supply, he can never be fatigued for too long. Alex, on the other hand, requires people to nourish himself; it's a time-consuming job to find someone, capture him, kill that person, and then absorb him. Cole's drain ability is simply finding the nearest source of electricity and leeching away._

_Also, while Alex's moves are particularly more devastating on a crazier, f*ck sh*t up level, Cole's abilities have higher versatility. Don't believe me? How about shooting lightning, for starters? Along with regular bolts, he has grenades, rockets, shockwaves, and even a high degree of skill in CQC. _

_Cole's Lightning Storm is also super immediate. Unlike Alex's Devastators, Cole doesn't need to waste time charging up to see his payoff. _

_Yeah, I know Mercer survived a nuke. But then again, so do cockroaches. And I squish them all the time—which is exactly what Cole accomplished._

_I can't care less if I sound like a fanboy for saying this. I think Cole MacGrath is just a better character. The good version, anyways._

_And one last thing: Infamous 2 Cole would have owned Alex Mercer. Fire and/or ice powers? A wider array of electric abilities? The Amp?! Yeah, it wouldn't have been fair. (Don't get me started on Evil Ending I2 Cole.)_

_Anyway, so that's the end. Feel free to leave a review saying how Alex would've totally killed Cole (or compliments/criticisms). Hybrid out._


End file.
